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Community Corner

Helping Critters Near and Far

Lake Forest's Animal Health Foundation dabbles in a variety of educational, scientific and charitable causes to help pets, wildlife and people.

Interested in doing pet therapy with your dog, cat or bird? Want to support wildlife disaster relief in Southern California and around the world? Looking for a way to honor a special person or pet? The Animal Health Foundation in Lake Forest is your go-to place.

AHF is a nonprofit outfit devoted to animal health and welfare. Founded in 1967 as an unofficial arm of the Southern California Veterinary Medical Association, it's now an independent, mostly volunteer entity, says AHF president Jan Vincent, a dog trainer and behaviorist.

The causes AHF supports change over the years and have ranged from scholarships for veterinary students to helping orangutans in Malaysia. One of the current programs is the Angel Fund, which helps financially strapped humans afford veterinary care for sick pets. In the past year, the Angel Fund provided $15,275 to 39 people.

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AHF's disaster relief program is focusing on aid for animals in Japan. That’s probably going to be an active cause for quite some time, Vincent says: “They’re in need not just for their human counterparts, but also for pets and other domestic animals that have been displaced and need housing and care.”

In addition to disaster relief, AHF offers disaster preparedness tips for pet owners.

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Pet therapy is another big part of what AHF does. Visiting a nursing home, children’s hospital or similar facility requires more than just showing up with an animal and letting people pet it. The Pet Partners program offers extensive training to ensure the animal is comfortable being handled by many different people and won’t shy away from crutches, wheelchairs and walkers. Not every pet or person is suited to the work—and it is definitely work, although it comes with major emotional rewards.

“We get calls all the time from people who want to get into the program because their dog is really friendly with family members and lots of people,” Vincent says. “When you start going through the process, there’s a little bit more to it than that.”

Pet partner teams visit children in pediatric cancer wards, brighten the days of patients in hospices and assisted living by doing tricks or just being there, and help kids improve their reading skills by letting them read aloud to a nonjudgmental listener—a dog.

The AHF website also has opportunities to memorialize pets or people or honor such milestones as graduation, marriage or even acquiring a new pet. Donors can choose which project they’d like to support.

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